-PLEASE READ DESCRIPTON BEFORE FLAMING ME-

Edit: Fixed a couple of typos; thank you Cupcake-Kitty-chan and thetauche for spotting them!

Edit #2: Sorry, but I went ahead and disabled comments for this stamp. It's nothing against you guys- it's just that this stamp is getting kind of old, and I don't really feel like talking about it anymore. I'll still leave it up for the people who do like it and want to use it, but I'd rather not discuss it any further. If you agree, cool; if not, no worries.


I was looking for just a simple little pro-vegan stamp for my profile one day, but when I went to go search for one, all I got were a bunch of angry "Bwar vegans suck" hate stamps. So I took that as an indication that I needed to make my own. (Less hate, more love, right?)

Quick background:
Before I get too far into this rant I've composed, I should probably take a minute to explain what veganism is (because I've noticed that a lot of people are either unfamiliar with it, or they know what it is, but don't quite understand the reasons behind it). Veganism is a lifestyle in which no animal products are consumed. This typically applies to food products- meat, eggs, fish, dairy, honey, and animal by-products- but it can also apply to other products, such as leather, wool, cosmetics, certain types of soap, etc. I know, it probably sounds a little crazy at first, but the people who choose to adopt this lifestyle do so for very good reasons. There are many reasons why, but typically, I've noticed four main ones:

• For the animals. This is what people typically associate veganism with. A lot of people falsely assume that the only reason people ever go vegetarian is because they simply don't like the thought of killing animals for food; so, under this logic, vegans must be total nutjobs, because you don't kill the animals to get eggs or dairy- right? First off, this isn't entirely true. Once the animal has lost the ability to produce eggs or dairy, they're not going to just waste the meat, so those animals are slaughtered as well (usually long before they've reached their full life expectancy); and for that reason, many vegans feel that continuing to consume eggs and dairy is continuing to support the meat industry. Secondly, what animal-rights vegans are typically against is not only the fact that animals are dying needlessly, but also the fact that the animals are being abused and treated cruelly. If a cat or a dog were treated the same way most farm animals are treated, the owner would be charged with animal cruelty in a heartbeat; but there are no such laws protecting farm animals, despite the fact that they are equally sentient beings. There is every bit as much abuse and suffering involved in getting other animal products as there is in meat production. I'll try not to touch too much more on ethics, as I've noticed that it tends to turn people off; but if you're curious enough to learn more about how exactly these animals are abused, this brochure does a pretty good job of explaining it further (note that some may find it a bit graphic): [link] (It's a PDF file).

• For personal health. Numerous studies suggest that consuming animal products at the rate in which they are currently consumed in the Western World is about one of the worst things you can do for your health, in that it contributes to higher obesity rates and puts you at a much higher risk for getting certain diseases. You don't have to totally stop eating animal products in order to greatly improve your health; but typically, the fewer you consume, the better off you are health-wise. (See also "57 Health Benefits of Going Vegan" [link])

• For the environment. The #1 pollutant in the world is not cars, believe it or not- it's meat. Factory farms account for the largest percentage of all greenhouse gas emissions, and run-off from these farms also pollute rivers and streams. [link]

• To help fight world hunger. There isn't enough grass for all the animals to graze, so they are instead fed grains, which humans need much more than they need meat. Approximately 756 million tons of grain are currently fed to livestock globally. If those grains were instead fed to the millions of people around the world who are currently living in poverty, world hunger would easily be solved with plenty to spare.

(^ All of these points will be elaborated upon as you continue to read)

And yet, despite these reasons, I've still seen so much anti-veg*n (veg*n= vegetarian & vegan) sentiment going around everywhere, which I simply have a hard time understanding. I browsed through some of the descriptions/comments of the hate stamps I found, and these were the main anti-veg*n points I noticed:

-Humans are omnivores! We need to eat meat and dairy in order to stay healthy!
Actually, if you researched it, I'm sure you would find that virtually all of the key nutrients found in meat and dairy products are found in a vast variety of other healthier alternatives. A lot of people falsely believe that you have to rely entirely on vitamin supplements in order to make up for everything you would need from meat and dairy, but this simply isn't true, so long as you plan your meals ahead of time and know which foods contain the nutrients you need. Things like nuts and legumes contain natural proteins, and when you pair them with grain foods to make them complete proteins, they can actually make up for all the protein your body really needs without giving you any of the excess protein that comes from eating meat on top of all that, which can lead to certain health problems. As for dairy, instead of milk, I personally use fortified soy milk, which (and I compared this to a jug of regular cow's milk at the store) has the same amount or more of virtually every vitamin and nutrient found in milk per 1 cup serving. It's also free of cholesterol (since cholesterol is only found in animal products), so that's always a plus.

There's nothing wrong with eating animal products on occasion, as they're often the easiest way to get important nutrients; however, the key phrase here is "on occasion". Numerous studies suggest that regularly consuming animal-based foods several times a day can often lead to a variety of health problems, such as heart disease and several different cancers (the top two killers of adults over 25 in the US), whereas diets rich in plant-based foods actually lower your risk of getting these diseases significantly. Additionally, people with largely plant-based diets also tend to live longer, they often have more energy, and they are much less likely to develop a list of other diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis. So unless you have legitimate dietary problems, as long as you do all your research ahead of time and make absolutely certain that you're getting everything you need, then there really isn't anything the least bit unhealthy about the vegan diet; in fact, numerous doctors and health professionals have even endorsed it. You just have to know what you're doing.

-Eating meat is perfectly natural.
Absolutely- if you're an animal in the wild. Animals have to hunt for their food, which is all fine and dandy, but how do most humans get it? We breed animals for the sole purpose of being eaten and waste a bunch of resources and energy to raise them, pump them full of chemicals to make them "meatier", then slaughter them for retail to make a few bucks. Yep, sounds totally natural to me; I see lions doing that to zebras all the time in the wild.

Sarcasm aside, the point is that veg*ns are not attacking the overall concept of meat-eating- what we're attacking is the way in which meat is produced for human consumption. Eating meat may be natural, but there is nothing natural about the meat industry. This excuse gets used way too many times, and it's really quite frustrating, because the "nature" of meat-eating has nothing to do with the fact that people, animals, and the planet are all suffering as a result of modern industrialised meat. Animals in the wild don't mass-breed their prey and pollute the earth in the process of obtaining their meat. Also, natural predators eat meat because they have no choice, as it is an essential part of their diet, whereas humans only eat meat because they want to- we have no true dietary obligation for it, as humans are so far over on the plant-based side of the omnivore scale that it really doesn't matter if it's in our diet or not (hence why vegetarians are able to exist in the first place and still be healthy). Some people simply don't like the thought of taking a life unless they absolutely have to, and since humans don't absolutely have to eat meat, they don't eat meat- that's their own business. You may not find it wrong, but that's simply how some people see it.

Additional arguments related to this point:

-"We've always eaten meat! Our ancestors ate meat to survive!"
Our ancestors didn't eat meat every single day for each and every meal. From what I understand, it wasn't until the 20th Century that meat became the main source of protein in the West; before then, most people were primarily vegetarian and only ate meat as a delicacy on rare occasions. We also had lower obesity rates and fewer diet-related illnesses back then.

-"Humans were built to eat meat. Why do you think we have canine teeth?"
Canine teeth have a variety of uses; they're not just for eating meat. They're good for tearing into tough foods in general, which can include plant-based foods such as apples and other hard fruits; and in some species (yes, including some herbivorous ones), they're even used as weapons. Regardless, you really can't decipher an animal's natural diet based on its dental structures alone- you have to look much deeper than that.

-"What about vitamin B12? That's only found in meat! Clearly, we're supposed to eat meat because we need B12!"
Vitamin B12 is actually a bacteria, and it grows just about anywhere bacteria grows; however, because humans have gotten smarter about sanitation over the centuries, we've limited our sources to pretty much just animal-based foods. Many herbivorous/vegetarian animals need B12 as well, which they typically obtain through consuming things that most humans would find disgusting and unclean, such as their own feces (which are typically loaded with B12). Fortunately for veg*ns, however, there are many foods which are fortified with B12, such as breakfast cereals and soy milk.

-"If God didn't want us to eat animals, He wouldn't have made them taste so good!"
And now you're starting to sound like a child.

-Vegans are all a bunch of stuck-up, self-righteous jerks trying to convert me to their lifestyle.
I realise that there are some vegans out there who are like that, but obviously not all. Just because the so-called "militant vegans" happen to have a strong voice (especially on the internet) doesn't mean that they represent the majority of vegans. You should never judge an entire group of people (or even its majority) based on the actions of its extremists, because, unfortunately, the "crazier" members of a group will always get more attention over the "sane" ones, because the fact that they're crazy is what gets them the attention in the first place- that's just how groups work. Also, there's a big difference between simply taking pride in something and thinking you're some kind of god because of it; I think a lot of people often get the two mixed up, especially when the group in question is a commonly disliked minority such as vegans. Obviously, I do believe that I am making a good choice for myself by not eating meat for the reasons that I've explained above, but that doesn't mean that I feel "superior" as an overall person. I am still human, and I still make mistakes. I don't think any less about non-vegs than I do about any other human being, and I doubt the majority of sane vegans do, either. (In fact, I'd be in big trouble if I did, since practically all of my friends/relatives still eat meat.)

As for the "they're trying to convert me" bit- educating someone about something is not always the same as trying to convert them. I don't go around preaching to people about veganism, but whenever the subject comes up and someone doesn't understand something, then of course I'll try be informative about it because it's something that I feel strongly about; but that doesn't mean that I expect everyone to suddenly convert as a result of me explaining it to them. My only goal is to clear up any confusion that people have about the diet whenever an explanation is needed; what they choose to consume after that is their own business.

-Vegans are all just a bunch of annoying, animal-loving hippies trying to use horror stories from the slaughter house to get me to join their cause when I really couldn't care less about animals.
As I said at the beginning of this description, not everyone goes veg*n simply because of the animals. Some people don't eat meat because they have health problems, they simply don't like the taste of meat, their religion forbids it- it could be a number of things. But that doesn't necessarily mean that someone is "wrong" for simply choosing not to eat something. And even if somebody is in it for the animals- is that really such a bad thing? Caring about animals (which I've seen a lot of people get attacked for, for whatever insane reason) doesn't automatically make someone a self-righteous snob or a PeTA-worshipping lunatic- it just means that they're concerned about animal welfare. You're not necessarily a "heartless, animal-hating murderer" for eating meat (eating animals is not the same as hating them, I get that), but those who choose not to eat meat out of compassion are not criminals, either; they simply have a different perspective on the matter. And even if you really don't care much about animals, that doesn't mean that everyone who does is any more or less right/wrong than you are.

-Okay, so I get that animals are being abused... but I only buy products from free-range farms! Surely that must be okay...?
Unfortunately, "free-range" and "free-roaming" are just sales pitches. The reality is that no one is required to monitor these farms to make sure that they actually are free-range; so really, "free-range" animals are just as likely to come from an abusive farm as any other animal. Companies are allowed to say whatever they want about the way their animals are treated without it actually being true.

-Even your silly little vegan products aren't entirely earth-friendly; every product has to somehow involve energy in order to be produced.
I can see your point, but the overall goal of veganism is not to be absolutely perfect in every way possible- it's simply to reduce as much as we can. A carrot takes far less energy to produce than a hamburger patty does, even if neither one is 100% "perfect". Perfection is an unrealistic goal, obviously; but a small improvement is better than doing nothing at all. It's how much energy is being used that makes the difference. Plus, vegans don't rely entirely upon overly-processed vegan specialty foods, as people may think. In fact, there are actually a lot fewer places that cater to vegans than you would expect, so veganism typically requires a lot of at-home cooking with raw ingredients, which means less packaging and overall energy consumption.

-A lot more animals die from harvesting vegetables and other crops than in meat production, you know; farmers use pesticides to kill bugs, and small animals get caught in tractors and other machinery. Why is it OK for those animals to die, and not a chicken or a pig?
The thing is, while it is sad that those animals die as well, what the animal-rights vegans are advocating against is not just the fact that animals are dying needlessly, but also the fact that the farm animals are being abused and treated cruelly. The key difference between the farm animals and the animals caught in the fields is that the field animals at least live free and natural lives where they're not locked up in small pens and are beaten all day long; that's why you hear vegans claiming to be "cruelty-free" instead of "casualty-free". Also, don't forget that the farm animals who are raised for their meat are fed many of the same crops that the field animals die for (and that's over the course of their entire lives), thus equalling even more casualties. And don't even get me started on all the thousands of species of animals who are killed nearly to the brink of extinction every year in the process of cutting/burning down forests in order to make room for the factory farms most meat comes from.

-Plants are alive, too, you know! And they feel pain! There's even science to back it up!
Of course plants are living as well; but, referring back to the explanation I gave for the "meat is natural" argument, some people simply don't like the thought of taking a life unless they absolutely have to. Humans don't need meat to be healthy, but they do need plant-based foods- that simply can't be helped. I realise that studies have shown how plants are able to "sense" when they are being attacked, however, they don't really "suffer" the same way that animals do, as they still lack the psychological component that enables them to undergo emotional distress in addition to physical pain. Slaughter is far more agonizing for an animal than it is for a plant, because the animal is fully conscious and able to experience a wide range of emotions, whereas the plant merely experiences chemical reactions in response to changes in their environment. Also, plants aren't forced to spend their entire lives locked up in deplorably small cages where they're constantly beaten and abused all day.

-Becoming vegan does NOT save any animals, nor does it contribute to animal welfare in any way!
I've seen this argument get used a lot lately, and it makes me facepalm every time I read it. To put it simply: the less you buy, the less they breed. Does that mean you're going to see a bunch of dairy cows running loose in the wild as a result of people going vegan? No. Does it mean fewer animals will need to be bred in the first place as a result of less demand, thus sparing them of a lifetime full of abuse? Yes. And the more people who go vegan, the stronger the message becomes that we're not satisfied with how the meat industry goes about its practices, and the more desperate the meat industry becomes to accommodate. That's how a boycott works. A lone individual probably can't do much on their own; but a large group of individuals can, and every individual who contributes towards that group's goal counts for something.

-"*Gasp* but if we don't eat the animals, aren't they going to go extinct?! I thought you cared about them!!!"
First off: not breeding the animals in the first place =/= wanting them to die. Second, it's better than forcing them to suffer a lifetime of abuse, which would be the case if they were bred to accommodate everyone's tastes. Thirdly, farm animals are not going to go extinct because of veg*ns; that's completely unrealistic. It's about bringing populations down to as few as possible so that fewer animals will have to suffer in the first place.

-Vegans preach too much.
And many omnivores aren't much better for constantly preaching about how much we suck.

-Vegan food isn't real food.
...If the ignorance in here isn't self-evident, then I'm afraid I can't help you. Sorry.

(^ I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but I'll come back and add more as I think of them.)
Honestly, though, I think the biggest reason vegans are so disliked is due to the general misunderstanding of the public. What people don't seem to realise is that there are many other reasons for going vegan besides just animal rights, and not every vegan out there is a crazy lunatic who wants to preach to you and convert you; more often than not, I'd say, they're simply trying explain themselves and bring attention to something that they care about through educating others, the same way that any other group would try to advocate their cause. (In fact, vegans probably get just as many (if not more) non-vegs trying to get them to relapse than the other way around, what with them being the minority and all). I won't deny that there are the so-called "militant vegans" out there who might not be as peaceful towards non-vegs, and while they may unfortunately have loud mouths, they by no means represent the majority of vegans. I believe that everyone is entitled to their own tastes, and if you don't want to go vegan, then that's fine, there's nothing "wrong" or "immoral" about you- we can still get along. I'm simply trying to get the point across that we're not just some lunatic club that thinks meat-eating is a sin. We have valid reasons for what we do (and no, it's not just to spite you), and we're really not doing any harm, so there's really no reason to hate us. I'm sure everyone feels better when they find something they can do to benefit both themselves and the planet, and different people have different ways of doing so- vegans choose to do it through diet, and others may choose to do something else. A lot of people choose ride their bikes to work every day as a greener and healthier alternative to driving cars, and yet whenever bike-riders present facts supporting their cause or try to bring attention to it, you don't typically see a bunch of angry car-drivers scoffing on about how they're all a bunch earth-loving hippies who think they're so much better than everyone else, that all their evidence is bogus, and that they're all just trying to get the entire world to give up cars because they think that everyone should be just like them. In fact, you actually see a lot of car-drivers supporting their efforts, because they understand that it's better for the environment in addition to being healthy exercise, even if they can't ride their bikes themselves for whatever reason. How are vegans any different?

Just live and let live, people. And that goes for both sides. Be informative and stand up for what you believe in, but don't hate on the other side, even if you think they deserve it. Hate is a waste of time, and it won't get your point across.

Thus concludes my rant; I apologise for it being so long. If you disagree with anything I've said (and you've done your research), then we can kindly discuss it, but in a civilised manner, please. Foul language and anger won't help your case. :/
*Also, I don't know how this superstition suddenly came about, but I would just like to make it clear that a veg*n is not going to suddenly scream and melt into a puddle upon seeing the word "meat" or being linked to a picture of a dead animal. You're not four, people.

Sources:
www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone…
www.drfuhrman.com/library/arti…
www.vegkansascity.com/howwhy-a…
www.nursingdegree.net/blog/19/…
www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-f…
www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-f…
ajcn.nutrition.org/content/48/…

Disclaimer: I want to make it clear that my intent with this stamp was not to try to convert anybody- it was simply to highlight the benefits of veg*nism and explain why people do it, and also to explain a few common criticisms/misunderstandings that people often have about the diet. If, however, you are considering vegetarianism or veganism (or really any diet change, for that matter), then please, don't just listen to me or any other random people on the internet- do your research, plan carefully, and seek guidance from a dietitian or other professional health expert. The veg*n diet can be a healthy and easy-to-follow lifestyle once you get the hang of it; but when you're just starting out, there's plenty of room for error, so please make sure you know what you're doing before hand if you're thinking about starting!